European Union - Wrong Signals!!!

[cd@xxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Re: European Union - Wrong Signals!!!

Dear Free Burma readers and activists - Does anyone know what politics or 
 understandings/misunderstandings are behind this statement from  EU 
Humanitarian Commissioner Emma Bonino. To Euro-Burmanet, it is to say the 
least confusing and out of the logic of signals. It is time now to help 
stop the suffering of the people of  Burma. We need to get policy and 
strategy objectives very clear because this kind of statement is 
counterproductive and divisive. 

Please send comments now.In any event, EURO-Burmanet is supporting full 
sanctions movement now. 

Euro-Burmanet, Paris
Dawn Star


moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> 
> From: moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (JULIEN MOE)
> 
> Sanctions on Myanmar won't work, says senior EU[Straits Times 9th Aug]
>      official
> 
>      Aug 8, 1996
> 
>      BANGKOK -- The imposition of sanctions by the European Union would be
>      ineffective as a means of bringing pressure to bear on Myanmar's
> military government,
>      a senior EU official has said.
> 
>      EU Humanitarian Commissioner Emma Bonino, speaking to journalists on
> Tuesday
>      after a three-country swing through Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand,
> said that any
>      threat of sanctions against Yangon by the European Union would be
> toothless because
>      of Europe's low level of investment in the country.
> 
>      "I don't think that for the moment it's a credible way. Our investments
> are very low
>      compared to Asian investment ... economically speaking, it's not a
> major impact," she
>      said.
> 
>      She added that there was also dissent on the question of sanctions
> within the EU.
> 
>      Calls for sanctions against Myanmar arose in Europe following the June
> 22 death in
>      detention of Mr Leo Nichols, an honorary consul for several European
> nations,
>      including EU-member Denmark.
> 
>      Mr Nichols, a close friend of Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu
> Kyi, died
>      while serving a prison term for unauthorised use of telephones and fax
> machines.
> 
>      The Yangon government said he died of natural causes but some European
> officals said
>      he was mistreated before his death.
> 
>      European requests for an independent autopsy have been refused by the
> Myanmar
>      government and Norway has accused the authorities of torturing Nichols
> through sleep
>      deprivation.
> 
>      Ms Bonino, who heads the EC Humanitarian Office (Echo), said that any
> action taken
>      by the European Union should follow the findings of an EU commission
> investigating
>      forced labour and other social issues in Myanmar.
> 
>      The investigation is expected to finish late next month.
> 
>      If it finds that forced labour is practised there, EU member countries
> will have to
>      decide whether to withdraw trade benefits under the Generalised Scheme of
>      Preference which would cost Myanmar US$30 million (S$42 million) a
> year, she said.
> 
>      "I do think that there is a great possibility that the European Union
> will unanimously
>      come out with this decision and that could be the start of a political
> world-wide
>      movement," she said, citing efforts by the United States to impose economic
>      restrictions on Myanmar.
> 
>      "World-wide there is concern about what's going on in the country. What
> is not yet
>      decided is what to do," she added.
> 
>      The US Senate last month decided against imposing strict sanctions
> against Myanmar,
>      but said that the position would be reversed in the event of any
> repression by the
>      Yangon government against the political opposition.
> 
>      Ms Bonino said she had met Ms Suu Kyi during her visit to Myanmar but
> her requests
>      to meet officials from the government had been refused. Activist's
> death inhumane: US
> 
>      In WASHINGTON, the US on Tuesday criticised the Myanmar government over the
>      death in jail of pro-democracy activist Hla Than, saying that it was
> inhumane to not
>      allow him to die at home.
> 
>      'The United States deeply regrets and is saddened by the death on Aug 2
> of Hla Than,"
>      State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said.
> 
>      "He was held, we believe, unjustly and he died in detention," he said.
> 
>      The State Department reiterated its call for the release of all
> political prisoners in the
>      country. -- Reuter, AFP.